The testis-specific phosphoglycerate kinase gene pgk-2 is a recruited retroposon.

Abstract

In both humans and mice, two genes encode phosphoglycerate kinase, a key enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. The pgk-1 gene is expressed in all somatic cells, is located on the X chromosome, and contains 10 introns. The pgk-2 gene is expressed only in sperm cells, is located on an autosome, and has no introns. The nucleotide sequence of the pgk-2 gene suggests that it arose from pgk-1 more than 100 million years ago by RNA-mediated gene duplication. The pgk-2 gene may, then, be a transcribed retroposon. Thus, gene duplication by retroposition may have been used as a mechanism for evolutionary diversification.